DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 360 579 CG 024 956

AUTHOR Ridenhour, Suzanne M.; Brownlow, SheilaTITLE The Use of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales to

Predict Accurate Social Perception.PUB DATE Mar 93NOTE 23p.; Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the

Southeastern Psychological Association (39th,Atlanta, GA, March 24-27, 1993).

PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143)Speeches/Conference Papers (150)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Adjustment (to Environment); Adults; *Interpersonal

Competence; *Mental Retardation; *Personality Traits;Prediction; Sex Differences; *Social Cognition

IDENTIFIERS *Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales

ABSTRACTAdaptive behavior refers to behaviors that

demonstrate an age-appropriate level of adjustment and independencewithin one's cultural group. Many adaptive behaviors involve socialperception, which may be described as knowing who does what, withwhom, where, and when. The demonstration of these behaviors may be animportant factor in the ability of an individual with mentalretardation to successfully integrate into the community. This studyexamined social perception among 48 mentally retarded adultsclassified as having either moderate or severe deficits in adaptivebehavior by the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Participantslistened to stories detailing social interactions in which acharacter exhibited warmth or dominance, and were asked to choose onepicture from two choices of the man who was the character in thestory. As past research has demonstrated that baby-faced people areperceived as warm and kind, and mature-faced people are viewed asdominant, the pictures depicted a mature- and a baby-faced choice.The results indicated that males with moderate deficits in adaptivebehavior consistently made accurate attributions of warmth to thebaby-faced man and dominance to the mature-faced man. Moreover,neither chronological age nor intelligence quotient were positivelyrelated to attribution accuracy. The results indicated that theVineland measure is a determinant of socially-adaptive skills forsome mentally retarded people. (Author/NB)

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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom the original document.

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Social Perception1

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The Use of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales to Predict Accurate Social

Perception.

Suzanne M. Ridenhour and Sheila Brownlow

Catawba College

Running Head: SOCIAL PERCEPTION

Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological

Association, March, 1993. The authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation and

support of the staff and clients of Rowan County Vocational Workshop and the

Association of Retarded Citizens. Appreciation is extended also to Elizabeth Marino

for assistance with data collection, Lyn Boulter for administering Vine lands to the ARC

participants, Cindy Stephens for assisting in the retrieval of diagnostic data from client

records, and Jane Copley for clerical assistance. Correspondence should be

addressed to the second author at the Department of Psychology, Catawba College,

Salisbury, NC 28144. U.S. DEPANTNENT Of EDUCATIONOnce of Educommal Romorch and Ingrovornomf

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ER/C)

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"PERMISSION I n lEPRODUCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

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TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

2

Social Perception2

Abstract

Forty-eight mentally-retarded individuals (22 males, 26 females) classified as

having either moderate or severe deficits in adaptive behavior by the Vineland

Adaptive Behavior Scales participated in a study designed to examine social

perception. Participants listened to stories detailing social interactions in which a

character exhibited warmth or dominance, and were asked to choose one picture from

two choices of the man who was the character in the story. As research (cf. Berry &

McArthur, 1985) has demonstrated that babyfaced people are pet-ceived as warm and

kind, and maturefaced people are viewed as dominant, the pictures depicted a

mature- and babyfaced choice. The results indicated that males with moderat deficits

in adaptive behavior consistently made accurate attributions of warmth to the

babyfaced man and dominance to the maturefaced man. Moreover, neither

chronological age nor I. Q. were positively related to attribution accuracy. The resuits

indicate that the Vineland is a determinant of socially-adaptive skills for some

mentally-retarded people.

Social Perception3

The Use of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales to Predict Accurate Social

Perception.

Professionals in the field of mental retardation traditionally relied only on I. Q., as

determined by a standardized intelligence test, to diagnose individuals as mentally

retarded (Baroff, 1986; Zig ler, Baila, & Hodapp, 1984). However, the I. Q. score is a

measure of 'ate of development, obtained by dividing cognitive mental age by

chronological age, and does not predict one's ability to perform age-appropriate

behaviors within the framework of one's home and community (Baroff, 1986; Zig ler, et

al., 1984). The consideration of "deficits in adaptive behavior", as related to

"subaverage general intellectual functioning", was included in the current definition of

mental retardation by the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR), in an

attempt to resolve the inadequacy of I.Q. alone as a predictor of general competency at

functioning independently in society (Baroff, 1986; Kirk & Gallagher, 1989).

Adaptive behavior refers to behaviors that demonstrate an age-appropriate level

of adjustment and independence within one's cultural group (Baroff, 1986; Kirk &

Gallagher, 1989; Zig ler et ai., 1984). Many adaptive behaviors involve social

perception, which may be described as knowing who does what, with whom, where,

and when. The demonstration of these behaviors may be an important factor in the

ability of an individual with mental retardation to successfully integrate into the

community. However, Baroff (1986) realizes that even those who recognize the

importance of the including "deficits in adaptive behavior" in the criteria for diagnosing

mental retardation find the task of describing behaviors that are actually related to the

adaptive functional-living skills of mentally-retarded people in the community to be

very complex. The challenge to explore and measure the components of adaptive

behavior makes examining those behaviors in contexts other than cognitive and

learning worthwhile, as it is necessary to identify those behaviors that truly contribute

to daily living skills.

Social Perception4

The theoretical assumptions of the ecological approach of social perception

provided by McArthur and Baron (1983) proves fertile lround for examination of

adaptive behavior as related to individuals with mental retardation. The assumptions

hold that perception serves as an adaptive function with the environment providing

information to guide behavior. Specifically, the physical appearance of people

provides information as to what they may be like and how they might behave. This

information is readily noticed by the perceiver, and in turn guides the perceiver's

actions. At the most basic level, perceivers need to know whom to approach and

whom to avoid.

One line of research that has blossomed from ecological theory concerns the

judgment of character, abilities, dominance, and warmth of people who vary in facial

maturity. Specifically, maturefaced people are seen as cold, physically ctrong,

capable, and shrewd, whereas babyfaced people are perceived as honest, warm,

physically weak, and approachable (Berry & Brown low, 1989; Berry & McArthur, 1985;

1986; Keating & Bai, 1986; Zebrowitz & Montepare, 1992. ) McArthur and Baron

(1983) have suggested that people overgeneralize the psychological characteristics of

children to adults who manifest the physical characteristics of infants. Thus, those

adults who retain juvenile features (i.e., large, round eyes, round cheeks, small chins)

are perceived as being warm, approachable, and weak.

Impressions of the baby- and maturefaced have been replicated crossculturally

(Zebrowitz-McArthur & Berry, 1987) and hold true for perceivers and targets across the

lifespan (Zebrowitz & Montepare, 1992). More importantly, perceptions of the baby-

and maturefaced are accurate (Berry, 1990; 1991; Berry & Brown low, 1989; Berry &

Finch-Wero, in press) as babyfaced people report themselves to be more honest,

warm, and powerless than do maturefaced people. Thus, social perception does

serve as an adaptive function, with the information gained via the facial maturity of the

target providing the basis for the knowledge of the consequences of the behavioral

5

Social Perception5

decisions of the perceiver.

Validation of the ecological approach to social perception has not been limited to

adults alone as Keating & Bai (1986) inadvertently discovered that children attributed

dominance to maturefaced adults. Further research by Montepare & McArthur (1989)

revealed that by age three children correctly distinguished between adult male baby-

and maturefaces, and by age four and one-half distinguished between adult female

baby- and maturefaces. Additionally, these children attributed greater warmth to the

babyfaced males and dominance to the maturefaced males. These findings

demonstrated that the trait identification based on the facial maturity of a target occurs

in the young, and therefore at young developmental ages.

Baroff (1986) describes persons with mental retardation as having psychological

needs as well as biological needs that require interaction with the environment to be

fulfilled. Mental retardation does not necessarily exclude these individuals from the

task meeting needs through first perceiving and then acting on the social environment.

in fact, social perception involving knowing whom to approach and whom to avoid,

despite a young developmental age due to mental retardation, may be especially

important.

As research has documented the universality of attributing certain personality traits

to targets relative to their facial maturity, an opportunity is provided to examine whether

the mentally-retarded population possesses this universal adaptive skill. This issue is

relevant because critics of inclusion of "deficits in adaptive behavior" in the current

definition of mental retardation cite the lack of universality in adaptive skills as one

cause (Baroff, 1986). Given that three- to six-year old children in the Montepare and

McArthur (1989) study discriminated between baby- and maturefaced adults and

made correct attributions of characteristics, the expe,.;tation arises that mentally-

retarded adults with adaptive-skill ages similar to the chronological ages of those

children would accurately distinguish between face types and make like attributions.

Social Perception6

Additionally, the diagnostic information available on mentally-retarded adults

through participation in special programs makes possible the examination of the use

of various diagnostic tools and accuracy in performance of the adaptive skill of facial-

maturity related trait attributions. Of particular interest is the value of specific tools to

measure adaptive behavior as none have gained general acceptance from

professionals in the field of mental retardation (Baroff, 1986). Such tools include the

Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, which include the ability to identify familiar and

preferred individuals, as well as other communication, daily-living, and socialization

skills in the assessment of an adaptive level of functioning (Sparrow, Baila, &

Cecchetti, 1984). The Vineland produces an adaptive-skill age based on the mastery

of certain age-related adaptive skills. Unlike other indices, the adaptive-skill age

reflects the age at which an individual is functioning adaptively rather than general

cognitive ability, and was expected to be an accurate determinant of the ability to make

personety attributions according to facial maturity.

Method

Participants

Forty-eight mentally-retarded individuals (22 males, 26 females) attending a

sheltered workshop and a compensatory education program were recruited for the

study. Chronological ages ranged from 20 to 63 years with mean and median ages

39.17 and 38.00 years, respectively. Consent was obtained from the parents or

guardians of participants as we" as from the participants, except in cases where there

was certainty that incompetency had not been adjudicated.

All participants were scored on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Sparrow

et al.,1984). The Vineland yields a level of deficit (mild, moderate, severe, or

profound) in adaptive skills, as well as an adaptive-skill age. Only those classified as

moaerate or severe participated. The mean adaptive age of moderate-deficit

participants was 8 yrs. and 1 month with the mean of severes 5 yrs. and 1 month. The

7

Social Perception7

participants were free of physically-limiting conditions that inhibit performance of skills

included on the Vineland. I. Q. scores were available on fr of the participants. The

mean I. Q.s of moderates and severes were 46.70 and 34.20, respectively. I. Q.s were

taken from psychological reports less than five years old.

Selection of Stimulus Materials

Stimulus faces. The stimulus faces were 4- X 6-in., black and white photographs

of the head and shoulders of two babyfaced and two maturefaced adult males

selected from those utilized by Berry and McArthur (1985). The faces had been

reliably judged on the dimensions of faciai maturity and attractiveness by adults on a

7-point scale with high values indicating greater babyishness. The mean facial

maturity ratings of the baby- and maturefaced males were 5.15 and 2.70, respectively.

Attractiveness ratings of the babyfaces were 3.88 and 3.11, with ratings of maturefaces

3.63 and 3.28. Attractiveness scores were within 1/2 B.12 of the mean of attractiveness,

while facial maturity scores were outside 1 ap of the babyishness mean.

Four sets of pictures pairs were made from the four stimulus faces. Each set

contained two different pairings of a baby- and matureface. Each of the four faces

appeared in each set, although picture positions were counterbalanced across the

sets. Picture pairs were mounted on black construction paper, covered in plastic, and

arranged by sets in a 3-ring notebook.

Stories. The four stimulus stories presented social scenarios in which the main

character exhibited warmth or dominance in an interaction. Two warmth and two

dominance stories were chosen from those utilized by Montepare and McArthur

(1989). The stories appear in the Appendix. A female speaker prepared four sets of

story pairs from the four stimulus stories on audio tape. Each set contained one

warmth and one dominance story. Across the sets, each warmth story was paired with

each dominance story. The order of story presentation was counterbalanced across

the sets.

8

Social Perception8

Design

The twenty-two males and twenty-six females were divided according to moderate

and severe deficits in adaptive behavior utilizing the scores on the Vineland Adaptive

Behavior Scales as the determining factor. Moderates and severes were randomly

assigned to picture and story sets so that each gender and level of functioning were

exposed to all possible combinations of picture and story sets. A 2 (Gender) X 2

(Level of Functioning) between-subjects design resulted.

Procedure

The procedure generally replicated that of Montepare and McArthur (1989) in

which younger and older children made judgments about the warmth and dominance

of babyfaced and maturefaced adults.

Following the signing of the consent form, the participant was told to look at the

pictures, listen to the stories, and point to a picture choice according to the directions in

the story. The notebook then was opened to the V-3t pair of pictures and the tape

started. The notebook was held so that only the participant could view the pictures to

prevent cuing from the experimenter. Ten 2 were allowed for the response. After 30 2,

the procedure was repeated with the second picture pair and story. The picture pairs

were then presented twice more, and the participant made a judgment of the most

handsome and the most babyish man in the picture pairs. These judgments were

made in random order. Attractiveness and babyish choices were made after those of

warmth and dominance choices so as not to influence the latter by these explicit labels

(see Montepare & McArthur, 1989). Following these judgments, the participant was

dismissed.

As in the Montepare and McArthur (1989) study, the choice of the babyfaced man

was considered correct for warmth stories with the correct choice for dominance

stories being the maturefaced man. A score of zero, one, or two was given according

to the number of correct identifications. Faces chosen as "most handsome" were

9

noted.

Results

Social Perception9

Discrimination of Babyfaces

In order to determine if mentally-retarded adults could accurately distinguish the

babyfaces from the maturefaces, one sample /-tests were utilized to compare the mean

number of correct identifications of faces to the chance level of 1. Only a marginal

difference was found between the number of identifications by the entire sample N.

1.13) and the chance level, 1(47) = 1.35,11..09, one-tailed. In order to determine

whether any particular group within the sample was able to make correct

identifications, similar I-tests were computed within sex, level of functioning, and within

level of functioning for each sex. The results of these analyses are located in Table 1.

Only females (M = 1.23) exceeded chance 1(25) = 1.81, a < .04, one-tailed, in making

correct identifications.

Insert Table 1 About, Here

Attributions as a Function of Gender and Level of Functioning

To examine the impact of gender and level of functioning on attributions, the

number of correct attributions were entered in a 2 (Gender) X 2 (Level of Functioning)

ANOVA. No main effect for gender emerged, E < 1 , however, a marginal main effect

for level of functioning revealed that moderates (M = 1.29) made slightly more correct

trait attributions than severes (M = .91), E (1, 44) = 3.35, 2 < .07. As can be seen in

Figure 1, a marginally significant Gender X Level of Functioning interaction emerged,

E (1, 44) = 3.35, a< .07. Scheffé tests (alpha = .10) indicated that male moderates (M

= 1.50) made marginally more correct trait attributions than male severes (M = .70), but

that female moderates and severes responded in a like manner (both Ms = 1.08).

Insert Figure 1 About Here

10

Social Perception10

Accuracy of Warmth and Dominance Attributions

While the ANOVA demonstrated differences among groups on attributions, it did

not provide evidence of accuracy in those attributiOns. To ascertain if correct

attributions of warmth to babyfaced adults and dominance to maturefaced adults were

made, one sample 1-tests were used to compare the mean number of correct trait

attributions to a chance level of 1. These tests were calculated for the entire sample,

within sex, within level of functioning, and within level of functioning for each sex. The

results of these analyses can be found in Table 2. No reliable difference was found

between the number of identifications oy the entire sample (M= 1.10) and the chance

level, 1(47) < 1, na. Only the moderate group (M =1.28) exceeded the chance level on

their attributions, 1(24) = 2.28, la < .02, one-tailed; but within the moderates only the

males (M = 1.50) performed better than chance,1(11) = 3.32, a < .01, one-tailed. No

other groups or subgroups made identifications at a rate better than would be

expected by chance.

Insert Table 2 About Here

Surprisingly, the accuracy data revealed that ability to make correct attributions

was not related to ability to accurately name the babyish and mature faces. Indeed,

these factors were not correlated, r(46) = .08, .01,.

Explanations for Attribution Accuracy: Participant Characteristics

The impact of other characteristics of participants, including I.Q., chronological

age, and adaptive skill age on attribution accuracy was examined. Each of these

factors was correlated with accuracy, and then entered separately in parallel 2

(Gender) X 2 (Level of Functioning) ANOVAs.

Surprisingly, I.Q. scores, available for 40 of the participants, were not correlated

with accuracy, r(38) = .07, In the ANOVA, no main effect for gender was shown,

E(1, 36) = 1.66, fis, although, as expected, differences for level of functioning emerged.

Social Perception11

LQ.s of moderates CM . 46.70) were significantly higher than LQ.s of severes at .

34.25), E (1, 36) = 14.44, la < .01. No reliable Gender X Level interaction was

produced, E < 1 , na. However, examination of the mean I.Q.s of participants, shown in

Table 3, revealed higher LQ.s for female moderates (m . 49.90) than for male

moderates (M = 43.78), excluding the possibility that male moderates made

significantly more accurate warmth and dominance attributions due to higher I.Q. Thus

I.Q., which is not related to attribution accuracy, does not serve as a good indicator of

ability on this social perception task.

Insert Table 3 About Here

Chronological age and number of correct attributions were not significantly

related, t(46) = -.21, ria, and the ANOVA with age as the dependent measure produced

no significant effects, all Es (1, 44) < 2.35, ns. Examination of the mean chronological

ages of participants, given in Table 3, revealed that anough both male (M = 40.90)

and female (M = 42.23) severes and female moderates (M = 37.23) were older than

the male moderates (M = 36.50), the possibility that male moderates made significantly

more accurate attributions because they were of a significantly different age than other

participants is negated.

Adaptive-skill age, as measured by the Vineland (scores of which were available

for 47 participants), was marginally correlated with accuracy in attributions, f(45) = .28,

2 < .07. When entered as the dependent measure in a 2 (Gender) X (Level of

Functioning) ANOVA, the results revealed that Vine!dnd scores did not differ according

to gender, E (1, 43) < 1, ns, As expected, a main effect for level of functioning was

produced with the mean adaptive-skill age of moderates (td . 7.68) significantly higher

than the mean adaptive-skill age of severes (M = 4.88), E(1, 43) = 53.77, a < .001. No

Gender X Level of Functioning interaction emerged, E(1, 43) < 1, ns, However,

examination of the mean Vineland scores of participants, appearing in Table 3, reveals

1 2

Social Perception12

an older adaptive-skill age for both male and female moderates (Ms = 7.87 and 7.51,

respectively). Thus, the Vineland does serve as a measure of adaptive skill on the

task in question, and is maroinally related to ability to make accurate attributions.

Explanations for Attribution Accuracy: Characteristics of Stimuli and Task

In order to determine if an attractiveness response bias influenced attribution

choices of the participants, zero was scored when the same picture was chosen for

both the attribution and most handsome judgments, and one when the choices were

different. A one sample ktest was used to compare the mean sample score to a value

of zero as zero represented the same choice for both attributions and handsome

judgments. Comparisons were done with responses to each of the two picture pairs

separately. Results from the first (t = .52) and second (M = .60) response analyses

demonstrated that different pictures were chosen for attribution and most handsome

judgments reliably more than the same pictures, 1(47) = 7.15 and 1(47) = 8.47, bothils

< .01. Thus the attractiveness of stimulus faces did not influence judgments of

attributions.

Visual inspection of the data revealed that 12 participants (three moderate and

three severe males, one moderate and five severe females) consistently chose the

same picture to each question (attribution, handsome, babyish), suggesting a possible

response bias. This bias was not isolated to any specific picture or story pair. To

examine the effect of this bias, the attribution judgments of these participants were

deleted from the sample and the number of correct attributions for the remaining

sample were entered in a 2 (Gender) X 2 (Level of Functioning) ANOVA. As before, no

main effect for gender was produced, E < 1 , although a main effect for level of

functioning revealed that moderates (M = 1.38) made more correct trait attributions

than did severes (M = .87), E (1, 32) = 5.74, a < .02. A marginal Gender X Level

interaction emerged, E (1, 32) = 2.83, g < .10. Scheffé tests (alpha = .05) indicated that

male moderates (M = 1.67) made more correct trait attributions than male severes OLL =

Social Perception13

.71), although females did not differ (111 moderate = 1.17, M severe = 1.00). While the

data of the response-biased participants did not change the overall results of the study,

the mean number of accurate attributions increased for each gender and level of

functioning, with the exception of the female severes.

One final explanation for the pattern of attributions concerns the nature of the

stories and pictures used. At present this study is being replicated with normal adults

in order to determine whether the stories adequately presented warmth and

dominance and whether correct attributions to the faces are made by normal subjects.

Discussion

This study demonstrated that some adults with mental retardation, specifically

males with moderate deficits in adaptive skills, do make correct attributions of warmth

to babyfaced males and dominance to maturefaced males. The ability to make correct

attributions was related to the adaptive-skill age as determined by the Vineland

Adaptive Behavior Scales rather than to chronological age or I.Q. as those individuals

with the oldest adaptive skill-age rather than the oldest chronological age or highest

I.Q. made the most correct attributions.

Surprisingly, this study revealed no relationship between the ability to overtly

distinguish among persons who varied in facial maturity and the ability to make

accurate attributions according to facial maturity. As indicated by the manipulation

check analyses, females were able to distinguish among the mature and babyfaced

individuals, and as can be see in Table 3, females had the highest LQ.s within the level

of functioning grouping, although these differences did not manifest themselves in a

significant Gender X Level of Functioning interaction. Thus facial maturity

discriminations may have relied on cognitive ability, whereas attributions of traits by

facial maturity, or accurate social perception, is best predicted by the Vineland. Baroff

(1986, p. 27) offers one further explanation for this lack of relationship, in that mentally-

retarded individuals have a concreteness of thought due to developmental lags. The

Social Perception1 4

impact of this characteristic of preoperational thinking may be what prompted several

participants to respond "neither one of them are babies, they are both menr, when

asked to judge which of the stimulus faces was most babyish.

Chronological age also showed no relationship to successful completion of the

task. Baroff (1986, p. 51) describes chronological age during the developmental

period as important to the behavioral expectancies for mentally-retarded individuals

specifically in the areas of self-help and motor skills, as merely living longer provides

more opportunity to practice skills and thus produces greater competency in self-help.

Our results may suggest a ceiling effect for competency via age and practice, or

limitations in practice as a valued tool in acquisition of social perception skills as no

differences were noted in the number of correct attributions by younger and older

individuals. Perhaps, too, there was a cohort effect as younger individuals have been

exposed to more social programs, thus attenuating any age-related benefits in self-

help skills.

The results of this study have implications for both the literature on social

perception and for professionals in the field of mental retardation. The finding that

some mentally-retarded individuals recognize and react to people of differing facial

maturity is consistent with research (e.g., Zebrowitz & Montepare, 1992; Zebrowitz-

McArthur & Berry, 1987) that suggests that the ability to make personality attributions

according to facial maturity is universal, and supports an ever-growing body of

literature documenting consistent impressions of those who vary in facial maturity

(Berry, 1990; Berry & McArthur, 1986).

One challenge for professionals in the field of mental retardation is to determine a

pattern of strengths and weaknesses of clients in all skill areas. That challenge

necessitates the use of tools to assess the level of functioning. While I.Q. and mental

age are important indicators of cognitive ability, these measures alone neither tell the

whole story nor predict the degree of integration a mentally-retarded individual may

1 5

Social Perception15

achieve (Baroff, 1986, p. 25). As deficits in adaptive behavior are included in the

definition of mental retardation there can be little doubt that adaptive living skills are

important to the successful integration of individuals with mental retardation into the

community and society in general.

Social perception as an adaptive function may be particularly valuable to

mentally-retarded individuals as knowing whom to approach and whom to avoid may

be an indicator of the degree of success these individuals may experience in meeting

needs through daily interactions with others, and therefore, provide indices to

integration potential and planning. The use of a social perception task may add

another dimension to the study, understanding, and clarification of functional social

capabilities. Although the task requires far more testing with a larger population and

different populations, as well as with female pictures, it is possible that, with

modification, the task may be considered a valid indicator of functional social abilities.

However, until the results of further research is available, the Vineland Behavior

Scales offers the capability to distinguish between individuals with mental retardation

who demonstrate accurate social perception skills and those who do not.

Social Perception16

References

Baroff, G. S. (1986). Mental retardation: Nature. cause. and management, (2nd ed.).

Washington: Hemisphere.

Berry, D. S. (1990). Taking people at face value: Evidence for the kernel of truth

hypothesis. Social Cognition, 11, 343-361.

Berry, D. S. (1991). Attractive faces are not all created equal: Joint effects of facial

babyishness and attractiveness on social perception. Personality and Social

Psychology Bulletin, il, 523-531.

Berry, D. S., & Brownlow, S. (1989). Were the physiognomists right? Personality

correlates of facial babyishness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,I5,

266-279.

Berry, D. S., & Finch-Wero, J.L. (in press). Accuracy in person perception: A view from

ecological psychology. Journal of Personality,

Berry, D. S., & McArthur, L. Z. (1986). Perceiving character in faces: The impact of

age-related craniofacial changes on social perception. Psychological Bulletin, Ell

3-18.

Berry, D. S., & McArthur, L. Z. (1985). Some components and consequences of a

babyface. journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 312-323.

Keating, C. F., & Bai, D. L. (1986). Children's attributions of social dominance from

facial cures. Child Development, 51, 1269-1276.

Kirk, S. A., & Gallagher, J. J. (1989). Educating exceptional children, (6th ed.).

Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

McArthur, L. Z., & Baron, R. M. (1983). Toward an ecological theory of social

perception. Psychological Review, 2Q, 215-238.

Montepare, J. M., & McArthur, L. Z. (1989). Children's perception of babyfaced adults.

Perceptual and Motor Skills, 52, 467-472.

Sparrow, S. S., Baila, D. A., & Cecchetti, D. V. (1984). Vineland adaptive behavior

7

Social Perception17

scales manual. (Interview ed.). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.

Zebrowitz, L. A., & Montepare, J. M. (1992). Impressions of babyfaced individuals

across the life span. Developmental Psychology, 28,, 1143-1152.

Zebrowitz-McArthur, L., & Berry, D. S. (1987). Cross-cultural agreement in

perceptions of babyfaced adults. journal of Cross-Cultural Psycholoay, la, 165-

192.

Zig ler, E., Baila, D. A., & Hodapp, R. (1984). On the definition and classification of

mental retardation. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, $2, 215-230.

!8

Appendix.

Warmth and Dominance Stories

Warmth

Social Perception18

1. Look at these two people. They want to play with a little kitten, but they have to be

very gentle. Can you point to the person who will say, "I'll be very gentle?"

2. Look at these two people. One of them is very kind and likes to share things with

his friends. Can you point to the kind person?

Dominance

1. Look at these two people. They are going on a trip together. Can you point to the

person who looks like the leader of the trip and tells the other person what to do?

2. Look at these two people. They want to play a game together. Can you point to the

person who will say, "I'll make up the rules?"

From Montepare and McArthur (1989).

19

Social Perception19

Table 1.

Correct Identifications of Babyfaces According to Gender and Level of Functioning.

Group Mean Number 1 1-tail g.

of Correct Identifications

Males 1.00 21 na

Females 1.23 25 .04

Moderates 1.12 24 na

Severes 1.13 22 na

Male Moderates 1.00 11 illMale Severes 1.00 9 na

Female Moderates 1.23 12 nfi

Female Severes 1.23 12 .10

Total sample 1.13 47 .09

Note. Comparisons are made to a chance level of one.

Social Perception20

Table 2.

Mean Number of Correct Attributions of Warmth and Dominance According to Gender

and Level of Functioning.

Group Mean Number a 1-tail la

of Correct Attributions

Males 1.14 21 La

Females 1.08 25 na

Moderates 1.28 24 .02

Severes 0.91 22 na

Male Moderates 1.50 11 .004

Male Severes 0.70 9 na

Female Moderates 1.08 12 Liz

Female Severes 1.08 12 'la

Total sample 1.10 47 nal

Note. Comparisons are made to a chance level of one.

Social Perception21

Table 3.

I.Q.. Chronological Age. and Vineland Scores of Participants According to Gender and

Level of Functioning.

Gender

Level of Functioning

Moderate Severe

Male Female Mita Female

Measure:

Laa 43.78 49.09 32.50 35.58

Chronological Age 36.50 37.23 40.90 42.23

Vinelanda 7.87 6.51 4.87 4.89

Note: ns per cell are distributed for I.Q., Chronological Age, and Vineland Score as

follows: Male Moderates ns = 9, 12, and 12; Male Severes ns = 8, 10, and 10; Female

Moderates ns = 11, 13, and 13; Female Severes ns = 12, 13, and 12.

a = main effect for Level of Functioning Oa < .01).

22

2.0 -

0.0

Social Perception22

0--- Moderate--k-- Severe

Males

Subject Sex

Females

Figure 1. Attribution Accuracy as a Function of Gender and Level of Functioning.

2 3